If you sit in a Pitch-Dark Space - Friending Darkness - Sadhguru

From the Archives of Isha Blog, July 2010

Sunday was Amavasya, or the day when the moon disappears from our sight. On the no moon day, if you are willing not to disturb the darkness and keep it absolutely dark, if your mind is not in a primate condition where it jumps around and imagines ghosts, goblins and other nonsense coming from the darkness, darkness will be the most wonderful thing.

If you sit in a pitch-dark space, after some time you will not know the boundaries of your own body. You will not know where you are and where you are not.  If your mind is stable and meditative, sitting in a dark space will be a fantastic blessing. But for those whose minds are in a certain level of disruption, darkness is a serious problem. Most people are terrified in darkness, though darkness has never bitten anyone, anywhere, anytime. But because the mind takes so much visual content through the eyes, the moment the eyes become helpless in the darkness, the mind becomes terrified because it is so deeply enslaved to the five senses.
You have five friends who are all nitwits; they are half-brained. Whatever you see, whatever you experience, the senses only give you one part of the experience, they will never give you the whole. Because you start trusting and believing them, because you are deeply attached to them, your whole perception of existence is completely twisted.

So darkness is only a problem for those who have unstable minds. If you have a stable mind, darkness is a very beautiful thing. It is the coolest thing because nobody can disturb it. And it is the strongest thing because nobody can throw it out. It is the only thing which is eternal; it is the only thing which is all-pervading. The only thing that pervades the existence through-and-through is darkness.  The dark nothingness that is all-pervading is the very lap of creation. May you have the needed stability of mind to know the utter stillness and the eternal nature of darkness.

Love and Blessings.,

Watching disturbance in mind

Source : Glimpse after Glimpse - Sogyal Rinpoche.

Just as the ocean has waves, and the sun has rays, so the mind's own radiance is its thoughts and emotions. The ocean has waves, yet the ocean is not particularly disturbed by them. The waves are the very nature of the ocean. Waves will rise, but where do they go ? Back into the ocean. And where do the waves come from ? The ocean.

In the same manner, thoughts and emotions are the radiance and expression of the very nature of the mind. They rise from the mind, but where do they dissolve ? Back into the mind. Whatever rises, do not see it has a particular problem. If you do not impulsively react , If you are only patient, it will once again settle into its essential nature.

When you have this understanding, then rising thought only enhance your practice. But when you do not understand what they intrisically are- the radiance of the naure of the mind, then your thoughts become the seed of confusion. So have a spacious, open and compassionate attitude towards your thoughts and emotions, because in fact your thoughts are your family, the family of your mind. Before them, as Dudjom Rinpoche used to say "Be like a old wise man, watching a child play".

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Realizing the view subtly but completely transforms your vision of everything. More and more, I have come to realize how thoughts and concepts are all that block us from always being, quite simply, in the obsolute.

Now I see clearly why the masters so often say "Try hard not to create too much fear or hope", for they only engender more mental gossip. When the View is there, thoughts are seen for they are truly are : fleeting and transparent, and only relative. You see through everything directly, as if you had X-ray eyes. You do not cling to thoughts or reject them; you welcome them within the vast embrace of Rigpa. The thing you took so seriously before - ambitions, plans, expectations, doubts and passions - no longer have any deep and anxious hold over you, for the View has helped you to see the futility and pointlesness of them all, and born in you the spirit of true renunciation.

The craving mind - The real culprit

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche describes a yogi wandering through a garden. He is completely awake to splendour and beauty of the flowers, and relishes their colors, shapes and scents. But there is no trace of clinging or any "after-thought" in his mind.

As Dudjom Rinpoche says:- "Whatever perceptions arise, you should be like a little child going into a beautifully decorated temple; he looks, but grasping does not enter into his perception at all. You leave everything fresh, natural, vivid and unspoiled. When you leave each thing in its own state, then its shape doesn't change, it's color doesn't fade and its glow does not disappear. Whatever appears is unstained by any grasping, so then all that you perceive arises as the naked wisdom of Rigpa(Our original state of mind), which is the indivisibility of luminosity and emptiness.

My own experience :-

During a Hatha Yoga program, I was attracted to a beautiful girl. Our eyes met and we were lost to each other. We enjoyed every moment of it. But the moment my mind began to organise tricks to somehow get her, I sensed that I have lost some sacredness in it. My mind was suggesting all kind of ideas like should I suggest myself a bachelor or married despite the fact that I am married. Truly I did not sense any guilt in feeling her. But the only way I could possess her was to be aggressive and that was not in my nature of things. I simply walked off. It was like if existence wants, he will allow us to meet without any effort in our part. It was a beautiful experience.

In one more incident, while I lived in 2nd floor, a female maid servant was living in the 1st floor of my brothers house. Soon we were attracted to each other and there was a silent agreement that nature should take its own course. But during her visit to my house she aggressively demanded something from my father. I could see the aggressive & possesive mind behind the beautiful body. I was able to see the nature of the sex very clearly. It is like you stand in the terrace and you view a beautiful swimming pool. There is a craving to experience it and you decide to take a dive into it. You enjoy every bit of it. Only when you come out of swimming pool, you become aware that the whole field is covered with red and green chillies. And you suffer in unawareness. If one is not meditative, one will hanker for sexual experience again and again, no matter what be the cost. Hankering will awaken jealousy, violence, aggression, anger. Everything is lost in unawareness.

The offer to merge was so open but I decided not to respond to it. She was hurt by my sudden change in behaviour. But it was too late before I realised my mistake. Atleast I will not have to carry all my life.

Obstacles in the path

The following excerpts are from the book Glimpse after Glimpse by Sogyal Rinpoche :-

When little obstacles crop up on the spiritual path, a good practitioner does not lose faith and begin to doubt, but has the discernment to recognize difficulties, whatever they may be, for what they are - just obstacles, and nothing more. It is the nature of things that when you recognize an obstacle as such, it ceases to be an obstacle. Equally, it is by failing to recognize the obstacle for what it is, and therefore taking seriously, that it is empowered and solidified and becomes a real blockage.

My own experience :-

I have experienced various kind of obstacles in my life, ranging from small to intense. When problems come, it looks like that it will stay here for eternity, making us fearful. But it is actually just a phase, which comes and go. One does not have to do anything. The only thing one can do is to maintain dignified living, not to compromise on the values we have learned in Isha. The bad phase simply passes off, leaving no signature of it behind. Sometimes I wonder that the reason for which I became fearful is still present but the very nature of fear does not stays. It passes off. Only patience, and taking care of the light of love which was burned through Sadhguru's kriya, will help you to tread your path joyfully. Really, if you are in love with Sadhguru, you will pass off the hardest of obstacles in your life. I remember Sadhguru's saying that "Whatever you may do in you life, simply weigh your act whether it is for me or it is against me. A simple sadhana.